The Sindh government has finalised the names of two bureaucrats for the Karachi administrator post—Najam Ahmed Shah and Syed Hassan Naqvi.
The selected candidate will take over as Karachi Mayor WasimAkhtar steps down after completing his four years in power by August end. The administrator will stay in power until the local bodies’ elections are held in Karachi and a new mayor is sworn in.
Both the bureaucrats are Grade 21 officers and currently working as secretaries for different departments of the Sindh government.
Shah is posted as the secretary of the investment department. He has also served as the specialised healthcare and medical education secretary for Punjab from 2016 to 2018. Shah has also served as the finance secretary, and science and technology secretary for Sindh. Naqvi, on the other hand, is currently working as Sindh’s finance secretary. He has previously served as director of the export processing zone authority, the project director of the computerization board of revenue, and worked at CM House, Governor House and CDGK too. The Sindh government sources said that the two names are being considered and one will be selected by the Sindh chief minister.
According to the law, the Sindh government has three months s to hold the elections from the day the mayor steps down. No preparations, however, have been made for the polls.
Four years ago, the polls were held on the directives of the Supreme Court. The administrator was running the city’s affairs as no elections were held after 2009.
KhurramSherZaman, a PTIMPA, said that the Sindh government has right to appoint Karachi administrator, but it should consult it with other stakeholders. “A decision with mutual understanding is needed”, he added. He speculated that the provincial government may opt for Naqvi as he has been working closely with the Sindh CM.
Shah, on the other hand, has already clarified that the appointment of the Karachi administrator is an administrative issue and would be dealt with accordingly.
